2011 Favorites: Most Emotional Reads

For the last week of 2011, I'm not going to post any of my normal reviews, etc. but do some lists of my favorite books of 2011. You can check out the first in this series, my post on favorite book covers, here.

Today, I'm making a list of my most emotional reads.

The links will take you to my reviews.

Hold Still by Nina LaCour

The emotion in Hold Still is incredibly raw. There's no holding back, and that really made me feel both Caitlin's grief and Ingrid's hopelessness.




My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult


This is the kind of book where you're just crying the entire time. And that ending - I must have cried for half an hour after finishing My Sister's Keeper. It's just so sad and beautiful!




Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma


This book almost killed me. It's incredible how the author manages to make me want Lochan and Maya to end up together, despite the fact that incest is so widely seen as wrong. I bawled while reading the ending. Scuh a powerful book!


The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson


Unlike the last two, The Sky Is Everywhere doesn't have an ending that broke my heart; in this one, every single word broke my heart. Lennie's grief is so real, you can't help but feel it too.

Sweethearts by Sara Zarr


The atmosphere in Sweethearts is so well-done. Even though the plot isn't the saddest one I've read, the writing makes this one a really emotional read. That counts for Story of a Girl and Once Was Lost, too, but I decided to go with Sweethearts because I liked it a little better than the other two Sara Zarr books I've read.


Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott


Unlike the rest of the books on this list, Living Dead Girl isn't just sad - it's completely horrifying. What Alice has to go through is so, so terrible, and Living Dead Girl is unlike any other book I know.




Dear Bully


What makes this book so sad is that every single story is true. Thinking about how real people had to go through all of this makes Dear Bully one of the most emotional books I've ever read.


Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John


While all of the sad books on this list are great, I wanted to have something happy, too, and that's exactly what Five Flavors of Dumb is. It's so much fun and  made me want to get up and dance and scream and laugh all at the same time.




It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini


Since this is a book about depression, It's Kind of a Funny Story should be on this list because it's so sad, but it's really on here because it made me so happy. Despite the heavy topic, this is one of the funniest, most life-affirming books I know.




Have you read any of my most emotional reads of 2011, and did you love them as much as I did? What are some of your most emotional reads of the year?